Chapter 909 Chapter 226 Armored Force Concept
"Traditional cavalry is bound to be eliminated with the advancement of military weapons, such as the use of machine guns, which was tested in the South African War. In this case, how the cavalry can break through the machine gun fire coverage is a big problem. When there are enough machine guns, the infantry can solve the threat of cavalry very well, so our cavalry units must keep pace with the development of the times and embark on the road of motorized cavalry." said Lieutenant General Mars.
Mars was promoted after the South African War. The 221st and 222nd Cavalry Divisions he created before the South African War both achieved good results, especially the 221st Division, which almost fought throughout the war in Mozambique.
The East African Cavalry has not only a long history, but also a poor record in combat. After all, the earliest East African Cavalry was created solely to suppress the indigenous forces in East Africa, which was completely a waste of effort.
The highlights of the East African cavalry were the Boer War and the South African War. As for the First East-Portuguese War, East Africa did not even need the cavalry to take action to successfully conquer Portugal. At that time, the two Portuguese colonies were too close to the core territory of East Africa, and the East African border troops were enough to deal with the Portuguese. Even the East African border troops were not fully deployed at that time, and instead used blacks to fight the Portuguese.
With the end of the South African War, the East African Army has naturally not been idle over the years. First of all, it has continued to advance research on traditional weapons such as rifles and artillery.
After the South African War, the emphasis on new weapons, new technologies and new tactics such as machine guns, railways, telegraphs and trench warfare was further enhanced. The Battle of New Frankfurt was a classic example of trench warfare in East Africa. The trench system built by the East African Defense Force with New Frankfurt as the core greatly consumed and delayed the military forces of Britain and Portugal.
This was the impact of the South African War. Apart from the war factor, the development of new things such as radio and automobiles once again promoted the East African Army's research in related fields.
It was on this basis that Lieutenant General Mars became pessimistic about the development of the cavalry. With the establishment of the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Force, the importance of automobiles in future military affairs has become prominent.
In 1895, with the development of the automobile industry in East Africa, the military also proposed the military application of automobiles. As the most wealthy and powerful, the Guards Division naturally took the lead among all the troops in East Africa.
Mars is now in charge of the 101st Cavalry Division and serves as the division commander of the 101st Cavalry Division. The 101st Cavalry Division is the cavalry unit stationed in the city of Mbeya.
The city of Mbeya is one of the automobile industry production bases in East Africa, so Mars can most directly witness the rapid development of the East African automobile industry. In addition, the establishment of the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Unit made him realize the crisis of East Africa's traditional cavalry.
In order to cope with this crisis, changes must naturally be made. So after more than a month of deep thought, Lieutenant General Mars believed that if the cavalry wanted to keep pace with the times, it must have more powerful machinery than the mobile forces of the Guards Division, and it must be a powerful machine that can both attack and defend and has the advantage of mobility.
This kind of machine is obviously different from a car. It should have certain defensive functions and can be equipped with weapons with strong strike capabilities such as machine guns and artillery.
In order to achieve the defensive function, it is naturally necessary to equip "armor". As for machine guns and artillery, they are to suppress the infantry. However, after Mars learned that machine gun positions were installed on the vehicles of the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Unit, he became more determined to install more powerful artillery on the machinery used by the cavalry unit. Of course, machine guns are also indispensable.
Soon, Mars wrote his idea into a specific concept plan and submitted it to the General Staff. He was then called by the new Chief of General Staff Merke to the First Town to make a report.
"Well said, Mars. As for the new cavalry equipment you proposed, related research has actually made progress under the promotion of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I cannot disclose the specific content yet. However, the fact that you were able to realize this problem in advance shows that you are very alert and sensitive to new technologies, which is what our East African soldiers need." Merk praised generously.
"As for the new cavalry equipment you mentioned in the document, we already have a plan for it. It's called 'tank'. Its equipment is similar to what you expected, but there are some differences. But the overall functions are similar."
The specific difference is naturally that the wheels of the "car" are replaced with the tracks used by the "tractor". Of course, wheeled armored vehicles have also been studied, but tracks are obviously more easily adapted to battlefield environments. This has also led to more tractor factories in East Africa participating in armored vehicle research than car factories.
Moreover, there are some definitional differences between "tanks" and wheeled armored vehicles. Armored vehicles obviously emphasize the meaning of "vehicle", while tanks emphasize the integration of offense and defense.
Of course, this does not prevent tanks from being a type of armored vehicle, but they just emphasize their own aggressiveness.
"In the future, our country intends to deploy the first armored force in the central region. Of course, it is too early to say this now. After all, tank research is still in progress, so it will take a long time. However, you can first participate in the compilation of relevant military tactics and how to give full play to the battlefield advantages of this integrated offensive and defensive mobile force. At the same time, relevant research should also be conducted on how to restrain this type of armored vehicle."
Merk's words basically confirmed that Mars would be involved in the formation of the East African armored forces in the future. After all, before the finished product comes out, no one knows what the tank looks like, and now we can only rely on speculation and imagination.
Among all the East African generals, Mars was the first to recognize the shortcomings of traditional cavalry units and even proposed corresponding solutions. In Merk's opinion, he is very worthy of training.
"Of course, we must also pay attention to confidentiality. Only a few people know about this matter now, because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has high hopes for the armored forces and even believes that they will be the main force on the battlefield in the future. Therefore, the armored forces are also our future trump card in East Africa. Don't tell anyone about this when you go back."
Mars naturally nodded in agreement to this. Confidentiality has always been the tradition of the East African Army. Even unimportant intelligence is kept secret, not to mention that General Staff Merk explained it to him so solemnly.
"General Staff, I have a question. I don't know when the so-called tank will be ready. After all, I can't complete the tactical design of the future armored forces just by guessing."
A good cook cannot cook without rice. It is impossible for Mars to formulate corresponding tactics based on "virtual" tanks. Specific details and data support are needed to gradually explore the development direction of future armored forces.
Merkel said: "It's hard to say, but it happened in recent years. Even I don't know the specific details. I'm afraid only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knows about this, because the project was confirmed before I took office. Chancellor Weiter didn't even know when the project was launched."
As Ernst's confidant, Sweet has become the leader of the East African Economic Planning Commission, that is, the Prime Minister of the East African Economic Planning Commission.
In the absence of a prime minister in East Africa, this prime minister is equivalent to a "quasi" prime minister. Of course, it is more like the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, except that the Planning and Economic Commission is in charge of East African economic affairs and has a smaller scope of power. However, it is not a non-"legal" institution like the Ming Dynasty cabinet.
In short, the East African government agencies have become unrecognizable under Ernst's transformation. There is no organization in the world that is similar to the East African government. It has the characteristics of various national political systems.
(End of this chapter)
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